In my entire journey as a student, I always had a dislike for group work as I did not trust my classmates would prioritise their time and effort into the teamwork. As a person with a lot of dedication to what I set my mind to do, I feared I would end up doing all the tasks myself to ensure that we meet the deadlines on time. This had happened a few times in my undergraduate studies. However, joining Kingston University for my post graduate studies have absolutely changed my perspective on teamwork.

Since doing the design thinking module, the idea and value of teamwork was changed. We were expected to form small groups and complete a team activity during each lesson. I must say that the stress on working in teams to complete activities provided us with valuable teamwork skills. At first, working as a team was a bit hard as we were all strangers and had little knowledge about each other particularly on interests, skills and abilities. However, having group activities encouraged us to engage in interactions where we got to know each other and learn from one another. Progressively, we became comfortable consulting each other even on individual activities an aspect that further improved our knowledge as we took advantage on each other’s skills. The first activity that we did as a team was on application and development of creativity. In this activity, we were expected to demonstrate creative ways to use a paper clip. Personally, I only had very few ideas as to how a paper clip could be used. However, when we came together as a group, and heard everyone else’s ideas on varied range of ways as to how a paper clip could be used.

Based on working as part of a team in the course, I have learnt that teamwork is invaluable in any setting. The teamwork skills I have gained in our group activities have greatly helped in my other group experience outside University. For example, I have learnt the importance of open communication while working on any group task. People working in any group setting are different. We all have different free time and different perspectives on issues. So, it is highly likely that there are going to be disagreements on some issues. In order to achieve positive team outcomes, I have learnt that communicating about everything concerning to the group task is key. For example, every member of the group should let others know their schedules to arrange group meetings. furthermore, sharing about one’s skills is important for the purpose of allocating tasks. Also, everyone must be open to constructive criticism as it promotes personal growth when one gets to understand their strengths and weaknesses as far as teamwork skills are concerned. Growing team works skills are not only important in education but also in the workplace and day to day life.